One huge poo…causes??

[Kiley Rose]

Marlee has been really bad with her litter habits lately, and I’ve pretty much chalked it up to being next to Nixie..but the past few days I’ve been seeing some cecals in her cage and when I just started to clean today I noticed this on her phone book. (Sorry, its pretty gross)

 

Her fur has grown very very long (she’s a double mane-d lionhead), but with her being so skittish/aggressive I haven’t been able to catch her to groom her. I think maybe her hair is getting in the way of her getting her cecals since I usually have to clean her bum when I finally do catch her? I’m also going to try and get her a sanitary shave at a rabbit savvy vet before the weekend. I give her 1/4c pellets a day, either a papaya or vitamin C tablet a day, and a small/medium size salad of romaine at night (she normally never even finishes it while Nixie will eat double the size of her’s in minutes flat). Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing it or should I be doing something different?

Edit: here’s pictures of her from last night looking all scraggley…

 

[KatnipCrzy]

If her bottom is a mess and she has matted fur or caked fecal matter that can inhibit the normal passing of stools.   Have you ever had a fecal check done on her-  intestinal parasites can also cause mushy stool.

Why do you give her Vitamin C tablets?

EDIT: how much does she weigh? and what is her age?  most lionheads are small bunnies and 1/4 cup of pellets might be a lot depending on her age, weight and type of pellets.

[Elrohwen]

Hey, that looks like what I pulled off of my bun this morning! Haha.

If you aren’t able to check her or clean her off yourself, I would definitely take her to the vet. For $15 they cleaned my boy right up and would’ve shaved him if necessary (which might be good for a lionhead long term).

How much hay does she eat? It could be that she’s getting too much protein and sugar and not enough fiber if she isn’t a good hay eater.

[Monkeybun]

Vitamin C tablets are unnecessary for bunnies.

I ditto the fecal check, wouldn’t hurt to make sure theres nothing going on there.

[Andi]

One of my larger rabbits had poops like that when she get got 12% pellet and not her low fat rabbit pellet (say if I run out), the lower fat diet (plus less pellets) seems to have cured it for her. How’s her bottm looking? Are there any other funny looking poops?

I’m also curious about the Vit. C?

[Kiley Rose]

She eats “Sunseed Rabbit Pelleted Food.” It’s plain pellets with nothing in them. 18% protein (what the breeder told me to give her), 2.5% crude fat (min), 20% crude fiber (max), moisture 5% (max). She turned a year on 2/22 and she’s a little over 3lbs. She’s also not very active…always lounging around.

I started giving Marlee the Oxbow papaya tablets a while back since she had so much hair and I read it helped digestion (now I just give them to both) and also found the Oxbow vitamin C and didn’t think it would hurt? Am I wrong? :/ Usually they get papaya tablets M,W,F,Sun and vitC Tu,Th,Sat. I’ll def stop the vitamin C though if they don’t need it…is it okay to give them papaya everyday?

She has two different places with hay in her cage, I refill them about every 2 or 3 days (whereas Nixie gets hers filled every day or two). She’s been having funny looking poops for a week or so…but nothing like the one above. I thought it must be from shedding.

Also, do all rabbits “blow” their coats? She just is slowly shedding, but I’m wondering if she’ll ever just lose a lot of hair (hopefully soon). I just want to cut all her extra hair off for her!..haha.

[Kiley Rose]

P.s. I got her before I really did tons of research about adopting a rescue rabbit (she was my first). I also should have learned more about lionheads in general…but I guess you live and learn! Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it

[Elrohwen]

The poop you posted a pic of looks like a cecal which is generally caused by diet (too high in protein or sugar), a bacterial gut imbalance, or a parasite – not shedding.

[Monkeybun]

Vitamin C tablets are more for guinea pigs, they are totally unnecessary for buns. The papaya are fine, my 2 love their papaya tablets as treats What type of pellet are they that you are feeding her? Timothy or alfalfa?

Not all rabbits blow their coats, Moose hasn’t. he just does little sheds.

Why would you want to cut off her beautiful fur? 😮 I do suggest you get her accustomed to being groomed, as she does need it with that long fur. Skittish or not, it has to be done.

[Kiley Rose]

Well I don’t think I’d actually cut it cause it would look horrible, I just have the thought when I can’t ever get ahold of her and I’m scared she’ll get stasis or something cause of all of it. :/

It doesn’t say what type of food it is, but in the ingredients is “alfafa meal” which I never noticed before. She’s almost out of this food and Nix is getting close to 7 months so I was about to switch them to the same food anyway, hopefully something kind of inexpensive. This food she has now is the only one I was able to find with the 18% protein (which like I said the breeder told me she must have) and that is why I’ve always given it to her. Any suggestions of a good pellet?

She always seems so freaked out and is quick to lunge which is why I think I’m nervous to corner her and catch her. The breeder told me (about 2 months ago) that Marlee actually stayed at someone else’s house while the breeder was moving and the woman kept her outside in a small cage for about 3 months during the summer (which is HOT in FL). Poor baby I’m sure that’s partly where her agressive-ness and antisocial-ness comes from.

[Monkeybun]

Definitely switch away from the alfalfa. I suspect that is partially the cause of the excessive cecals. At a year she should be on a timothy pellet, the Oxbow Bunny Basics T is what my vet suggests.

[Elrohwen]

I think 18% protein for an adult sounds high. Oxbow is about 14% which I have heard is more ideal. This is probably because it is an alfalfa pellet.

[Andi]

18% is more for nursing mothers, older rabbits needing to keep on weight and younger babies, I actually fed 16% for younger (baby) rabbits, all of mine get a 12% (except the fatties lol). I would try switching (slowly) to a different pellet like 12 or 14%. That may be more helpful, I’d also drop the Vit. C it’s not needed. Papayas fine.
If things don’t improve I’d definitely get a fecal test done in case.

[Kiley Rose]

How slow should I be switching? I’ll get the new food tomorrow morning after my algebra class (which is really stressing me out tonight). She maybe has a few days left of her old food..should I get another bag of it? It just lasts forever though..

I went to study for like an hour and when I came back she left tons of perfectly normal little poops infront of Nixie’s cage (right after I just super cleaned everything too!) So far everything has been normal since my first post.

[BinkyBunny]

If she hasn’t had a vet check, it would be a good idea anyway to get her established and get her fecal tested (one like the one in the picture) just to make sure it is not a parasite — they can many times tell if diet is the culprit too via the fecal (lots of yeast)

Longer hair breeds, like angoras,  wooley’s etc, are sometimes given higher protein pellets, so that may not be a problem for your bunny, but if after you switch from Alflalfa to a timothy based pellet this is still happening, then you may want to try a lower protein to see if that is the culprit.

Does your bunny get any greens?

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By Kiley Rose on 04/20/2010 07:56 PM
How slow should I be switching? I’ll get the new food tomorrow morning after my algebra class (which is really stressing me out tonight). She maybe has a few days left of her old food..should I get another bag of it? It just lasts forever though..

You do it over a months time – If you are getting the oxbow brand Bunny Basics T, they give instructions on the back of the package – but it goes as follows.

 

Week 1:  Mix 1/4 new  with original

Week 2:  Mix 1/2 new  with original

Week 3:  Mix 3/4 new  with original

Week 4:  All new

 

Note:   Some bunnies don’t like the new stuff and will pick through – don’t be discouraged if you see a picky behavior for the first week.   And anytime you transition just pay extra attention that your bunny is still pooing and is not dealing with any digestive problems.

 

Good Luck and keep us updated.

[Kiley Rose]

She gets a romaine lettuce salad every night, on the smaller side and usually she never eats all of it. She loves baby carrots, but I only give her maybe 1-2 a week.

[Kiley Rose]

Posted By BinkyBunny on 04/20/2010 09:32 PM

Posted By Kiley Rose on 04/20/2010 07:56 PM
How slow should I be switching? I’ll get the new food tomorrow morning after my algebra class (which is really stressing me out tonight). She maybe has a few days left of her old food..should I get another bag of it? It just lasts forever though..

You do it over a months time – If you are getting the oxbow brand Bunny Basics T, they give instructions on the back of the package – but it goes as follows.

 

Week 1:  Mix 1/4 new  with original

Week 2:  Mix 1/2 new  with original

Week 3:  Mix 3/4 new  with original

Week 4:  All new

 

Oh, okay. Thank you for that. I’ll try and stop before my choir class at the other pet store to get her one more bag of her old food as well. I just bought Nix’s last bag a few days ago and that’ll probably last long enough to switch her over too.

 

[BinkyBunny]

You had said that her other poos were normal, so if you see one big pile of big yucky poo a day, it could be just an excess of those night cecals which can also be caused by a diet that is rich for her. The interesting part is she has been fine on it until now and all of sudden you see this change this week, so though I do think it’s a good idea to switch away from the alfalfa pellets, I also wonder if something else is going on. Medical wise and environment wise — Since she is a rather reactive bunny (and I have those bunnies too — both Jack and Vivian used to be aggressive), she could be having some digestive issues due to other stress. Has their been any changes in your house? Anything new lately….different. Things that wouldn’t stress out your other bunny, but something that would make a more sensitive bunny like Marley react?

Once you get her switched over to a new timothy based pellet, you could also try adding more greens choices into her diet (slowly one at a time). Since you are switching pellets right now it’s best to not introduce any new type of green so you can try and figure out what’s really going on with the poo.

[Kiley Rose]

Well I just completely rearranged my room last week, right after Nixie switched back to her normal cage from her spay-healing pen, which Marlee also had to stay in her cage more than she ever has while Nixie was healing. Maybe one (or both) of those things?

[BinkyBunny]

These kinds of changes could cause digestive upsets and if she is normally active and gets much more exercise and then  this week has been limited, that could also play a part. None of which should should exclude the diet change and vet check-up when you can, but just something to be aware of for future reference if you notice that things change with her digestion, then you’ll know she’s the type of bunny that needs a routine and likes things predictable to feel safe and secure.

[Kiley Rose]

I never really thought about how much all the change would affect her (it makes accessing everything in my room a lot easier for me!) but I will stick to a schedule with her from now on. Normally, she’s still not very active, but does have free range of my room, usually laying under a nightstand the whole day.

[Kiley Rose]

I got the food Monkeybun suggested, so tonight I start the transition! Thanks for all the help!!

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By Kiley Rose on 04/21/2010 06:46 AM
I never really thought about how much all the change would affect her (it makes accessing everything in my room a lot easier for me!) but I will stick to a schedule with her from now on. Normally, she’s still not very active, but does have free range of my room, usually laying under a nightstand the whole day.

I hear you.  I have had bunnies that had zero problems with changes,(especially Vivian who just rolls with whatever – she’s amazing, maybe because she was a stray, and then was in shelters for years)  while others get upset with small changes.  So it’s just something to note for your own bunny so you can help identify predictors. 

Keep us updated with how the diet change goes. 

 

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